Snowstorm is over for Lehigh Valley, weather service says

The weather forecasters were almost unanimous in predicting a hard-hitting nor’easter Wednesday, and it arrived — but mostly south and east of the Lehigh Valley.

With most of the region’s schoolchildren at home, expecting a hefty 8 to 12 inches of snow, the clouds strained to drop 2 to 5 inches of slush that seemed to melt almost as fast as it showed up.

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Al Cope, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, at 6 p.m. declared the storm over for the Lehigh Valley.

“You’re done for this,” he said. “It’s moving on up toward Long Island.”

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Cope said Wednesday’s storm system was a complicated one, and it came together in a way that spared Lehigh and Northampton counties from most of its effects.

“It’s hard to predict where the heaviest band is going to set up in these kinds of systems,” he said. “The heaviest band of snow developed a little bit further to the east than we were expecting.

“The heaviest snows were over central New Jersey. We had quite a bit of lightning this afternoon over New Jersey. That’s an indication you’ve got strong upper motion, which results in a lot of snow,” he said.

Just before 6 p.m., the sun peeked out between clearing clouds over Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. The temperature was about 35 degrees, which softened the snow for the area’s busy plow crews.

The region will be mostly sunny Thursday will a high of about 37 degrees.

Watch video from the second nor'easter to hit the Lehigh Valley in less than a week Wednesday, March 7, 2018.

Mar 07, 2018 | 1:37 PM

In some areas, the Wednesday snowfall total was close to the forecasts. In Werley’s Corner, Weisenberg Township, the snowfall measured 7.6 inches at 4:04 p.m.

Just outside the Lehigh Valley, 7 inches of snow were reported in Lower Towamening Township, Carbon County, and 10.5 inches were meaured in Huff’s Church, Berks County.

At Lehigh Valley International Airport, however, the snow was just 2.2 inches deep at 1 p.m. Nearby North Catasauqua reported 3.3 inches at 3:30 p.m. The slushy snow didn’t get much deeper before the afternoon ended and the skies cleared.

The snow did little damage to the region’s electric lines. By Wednesday evening, the Lehigh Valley had 974 power outages, which was 841 fewer outages than in the early morning. PPL and Met-Ed crews were repairing lines knocked out by Friday’s windy snowstorm faster than new outages were cropping up.

Monroe County, which had 8,028 outages as Wednesday began, had 1,300 fewer by Wednesday evening.

Other areas of eastern Pennsylvania saw deeper snow. Close to 8 inches accumulated in parts of Chester County before 11 a.m. Five inches were reported in Delaware County.

For a brief time, snow fell at a steady rate with near-whiteout conditions in the Lehigh Valley. Roads closed, wires came down and multicar crashes were reported around the region, snarling traffic on major thoroughfares like Interstate 78 and Route 33.

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PennDOT spokesman Ronald Young said plows would operate through the night to make sure the roads are ready for the morning rush hour. On Tuesday, the governor ordered PennDOT crews from western Pennsylvania to move east to help with the storm.

The only major traffic problem as of midday was the closure of the eastbound lanes of I-78 between the Route 412 and Route 33 exits following a multivehicle crash. A crash also closed part of the Route 33 ramp shortly after noon. In Monroe County, for about a half-hour in the afternoon, state police diverted Route 33 northbound traffic to Route 209 for safety reasons.

Snow emergencies and cancellations are being announced as another nor'easter takes aim at the Lehigh Valley. This list is current as of March 6, 2018.

By Morning Call Staff

Mar 07, 2018 | 9:45 AM

As late as Wednesday morning, the region was braced for worse.

Ed Vallee, a Mid-Atlantic region meteorologist who provides private forecasting services as the owner of Vallee Weather Consulting, predicted early Wednesday the heavy snow gradient “could cut right through the heart of the Lehigh Valley.”

Vallee said the forecast was incredibly tricky for the Lehigh Valley.

“Allentown and westward it’s going to be a wait and see,” he said around 7:30 a.m. “That’s going to be the difference between some places seeing maybe 2 to 4 inches of snow and some places still going well over a foot.”

At one point, the National Weather Service said the heavy snow suddenly would turn into slush and make all unplowed roads nearly impassable by late afternoon. The weather service said visibility would also be down to about a quarter mile at times, with northerly winds becoming gusty. The result would be renewed power outages for many around the area. But it didn’t happen in the Lehigh Valley’s cities.

Colin Riccobon, spokesman for Lehigh Valley International Airport, said American Airlines preemptively canceled two flights Tuesday and at least five more were canceled Wednesday.

“You’re seeing airlines preparing for what’s forecasted to come,” he said. “And of course the weather elsewhere can affect what’s going on here.”

Riccobon said 19 pieces of snow removal equipment were ready to go.

“That’s the trickiness and the volatility of these March storms,” Vallee said. “You’re not only dealing with the gradient and the rain-snow line, but the sun angle and so many other factors with these forecasts. March storms, including this one, are just a different beast.”